Combined nose guard and teeth protector



Sept. 22, 1959 M. H. CHANDLER COMBINED NOSE GUQRD AND TEETH PROTECTOR Filed Aug. 20, 1956 INVENTOR MILTON CHA NDLER WMMU;

United States Patent COMBINED NOSE GUARD AND TEETH PROTECTOR ton Haddock Chandler, Weslaco, Tex. Application August 20, 1956, Serial No. 604,857 7 Claims. (Cl. 2-9) The present invention relates to protective devices and more particularly to protective devices adapted to be worn by athletes engaged in such contact sports as football, hockey, lacrosse and the like, for preventing injury to the nose and teeth.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a novel combination of a nose guard and teeth protector, wherein the nose guard will be rigidly and sturdily supported in protective position by reason of its attachment to the teeth protector. The teeth protector preferably intended to be 'used in this combination is of the general type described in my prior patent, No. 2,705,492, granted April 5, 1955. Although the principles of this invention will be shown and described as applied to this type of teeth protector, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that other types of teeth protectors may also be used in this combination.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved nose guard that may be detachably secured, readily and quickly, to a teeth protector by a rigid connection.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a combined nose guard and teeth protector that will be compact in size and may be comfortably worn in protecting position.

A still further object is to provide a combined nose guard and teeth protector that will neither interfere with the oral or nasal respiration nor with the vision of the wearer, yet will effectively and satisfactorily protect both the nose and teeth.

Another object is to provide a novel nose guard equipped with shock absorbing means adapted to bear against the face of the wearer, whereby the shock absorbing means will resist inward movement of the nose guard against the nose when inward forces are exerted against the guard, thereby preventing painful or injurious contact.

An additional object is to provide a combined nose guard and teeth protector which will carry out the objects enumerated above while being simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture. Further objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention and the novel features thereof may best be made clear from the following description, and the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of the head of a man wearing a combined nose guard and teeth protector constituting a preferred embodiment of my invention, showing the manner in which the nose guard is arranged when in its normal protecting position;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the protecting device;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the protecting device of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken generally along the line 4-4 of Figure 2, and showing an exemplary construction for removably attaching the nose guard to the teeth protector;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the attachment construction of Figures 4 and 5 removed from the teeth protector and showing the structure of the nose guard adapted to be associated therewith.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the present invention contemplates the combination of a teeth protector, generally indicated at '8, and a nose guard 201 adapted to be removably attached thereto. As already stated, the teeth protector 8 preferably is of the type disclosed in US. Letters Patent No. 2,705,492. The teeth protector 8, best seen in Figures 3 and 5, includes a resilient generally U-shaped base member 10 channel shaped in cross section and having a base portion or bottom wall 12 and upwardly extending side walls 14 integral therewith. Arranged within the base member 10' is a filler 18 of thermo-setting plastic or the like for the purpose of receiving and retaining a dental impression as explained in the aforesaid patent. While the teeth protector 8, for purposes of illustration, is shown and described herein for the upper dentures, it will be understood that the principles of this invention are readily applicable to a teeth protector for the lower dentures.

Referring now to Figures 1-4, the nose guard 20 preferably is constructed with an integral deformable and flexible core 22 made of a rod or bar of steel, plastic or the like, and covered with a tubular sheath 24 of a soft, resilent material such as rubber. The core 22 may be of any desired cross-sectional configuration, such as circular as shown, and the guard is formed to define a pair of laterally spaced, generally upright and parallel portions 26 joined at their upper ends by a forwardly and slightly upwardly extending curved or convex section 28. The upright portions 26 are turned at their lower ends into rearwardly extending, substantially horizontal base portions 30 (see Figures 1 and 4). The base portions 30 terminate in free core ends 32 while the sheath 24 terminates slightly in advance of each of these ends. An annular bulge 34 may be formed on each core end 32, adjacent the outer end thereof, for a purpose hereinafter to be described.

In forming the nose guard 20, the core 22 may be deformed into the configuration described above before the sheath 24 is arranged thereon, or the sheath may be fitted over the core 22 before the latter is deformed. In either case, the diameter of the opening in the sheath preferably is larger than the largest transverse dimension of the core 22 to facilitate the insertion of the latter into the former. The ends of sheath 24 may be glued to the core 22 or an abutment means (not shown) may be arranged on core 22 adjacent each end of the sheath 24 to retain the sheath in proper position on the core.

Arranged on the rearward side of each upright portion 26 is an arcuate resilient member 38 (see Figures 1 and 3) which preferably is tubular and made of rubber or other resilient material. The members 38 are substantially coplanar with the upright portions 26 and base portions 30, and are substantially coextensive with the upright portions, being suitably connected thereto adjacent the upper and lower ends thereof, for example by gluing.

Advertising now to the manner of removably attaching the nose guard 20 to the teeth protector 8, an exemplary construction for effecting this attachment is illustrated in Figures 4-6. This construction comprises a rectangular plate 40 intended to be arranged in each leg of the teeth protector base member 10 for receiving and retaining the free core ends 32 of the nose guard base portions 30. Plate 40 may be made of metal and is formed with juxtaposed arcuate flaps or tabs 42, 44, 46

struck out from the plane of the plate in alternately opposite directions at longitudinally spaced points thereon, beginning at one end thereof, as best seen in Figure 6. These flaps are resilient ,andof substantially the same size, collectively defining a,.longitudinal blind hole or opening inrthe plate 40 extending -.partially-betweenthe ends thereof, for the reception of a core end 32 of the nose guard. This longitudinal opening is of a diameter slightly larger than that of core 22 but smaller than that of the bulge 34 for a purpose to become apparent as the description proceeds. .One of the plates 43 may be horizontally arranged in the bottom wall 12 in each leg of the teeth protector base member it with the longitudinal axis of the plate disposed at an acute angle to the teeth protector outer side wall 14 and the longitudinal opening formed by flaps 42, 44, 4-6 located adjacent said wall, as best seen in Figure4.

A. suitable slit or passageway is formed in the bottom wall 12, which passageway is aligned with the longitudinal opening defined in theplate 4t) and terminates at its outer end in an opening 50. To effect the mounting ofplate 40 withinbottorn wall 12, the latter may be provided with an appropriatecavity or recess into which the plate 40 will be inserted and retained by any suitable means. Only one of the plates 40 is shown as arranged in a leg of the teeth protector, it being understood that another plate 40 is to be similarly arrangedin the other leg of the teeth protector, whereby the nose guard may be removably attached thereto in a manner now to be described. The base portions 30 of the nose guard 20 are disposed in straddling relationship along the teeth protector outer side wall 14 with the portions 26 extending upwardly therefrom (as seen in Figures 2 and 3) and each free core end 32 of the guard is then inserted into the corresponding adjacent opening 50 in the said wall 14 and pushed into the longitudinal opening defined in the plate 40. As the core end 32 is moved axially into the plate opening, the former will move freely until the forward end of the bulge strikes the first flap 42 or until it becomes wedged between the first and second flaps 42, 44 due to the smaller diameter of the opening defined by these flaps. At this point, a greater inward push or force is applied to thenose guard 20 to move the end 32 farther into the plate opening, whereby the flaps 42, 44 will be deflected outwardly by the bulge 34 to enlarge the diameter of the opening which they define.

The length of the plate opening and the size of the flaps are so constructed and arranged that when the outermost part of the core end 32 of the nose guard reaches the end of said opening and abuts the plate (as seen in Figure 6) the front flap 42 will spring back to its original position and the bulge 34 will be firmly locked or retained between the first and last flaps 42, 46 since the plate opening will once again be smaller than the diameter of the bulge 34. The axial length of bulge 34 is approximately equal to the distance between flaps 42, 46 so as to have little or no axial movement relative to the plate when locked therein.

With both core ends 32 of the nose guard assembled with the plates 40, as described above, the nose guard will be disposed in an upright position as appears in Figures 2 and 3 and the combined protecting device is now ready to be worn. The teeth protector 8 is placed in the mouth in the customary manner, with the upper dentures being received in the channel of the base member 10. The teeth protector 8 is then held in the mouth by the teeth of the wearer and the nose guard 20 will accordingly be disposed in a nose protecting position, as seen in Figure 1, being firmly and rigidly maintained in such position by virtue of its connection with the teeth protector. In this position, the nose guard upright portions 26 are on either side of the nose to protect it from lateral blows or impacts and the curved section 28 extends around the bridge of the nose, protecting it from head-on blows or impacts, while nasal and oral respiration and vision are not impaired by the combined device. Under some circumstances, it might be preferable to attach the guard 20 to the teeth protector 8 after the latter is inserted in the mouth.

Additionally, the arcuate members 38 rest against the face, on either side of the nose in the vicinity of the cheekbones, and serve to provide additional support for the nose guard while functioning as a shock or impact absorber. This latter function will involve a deflection or distortion of members 38 against the wearers face when forces are exerted on the nose guard causing the latter to be moved inwardly. Such deflection will offer resistance to continued inward movement of the nose guard and prevent such movement under most conditions. Due to the resiliency of members 38, no harmful pressures will be transmitted to the face of the wearer if the nose guard moves slightly inwardly, since the deflection of these members against the face will serve to absorb the impacts.

It should be noted that the illustrated construction for attaching the nose guard 20 to the teeth protector will effectively retain the two in assembled relation when connected as described, and only outward pulls on guard 20, sufiicient to cause the core end 32 to deflect plate flaps 42, 44, will cause the two devices to be separated. Inward, upward and downward blows on the guard 20 will not detach the latter from the teeth protector. Inasmuch as outward forces or pulls are infrequently experienced in the various contact sports, the possibility of inadvertent detachment of the nose guard during cornpetitive action is extremely remote. The nose guard, however, may be readily detached, to permit use of the teeth protector separately.

If desired, the plates 40may be arranged at the top of the teeth protector bottom wall 12, underneath the filler 18. In this case, a covering couldbe arranged over the plate opening to prevent the filler 13 from entering said opening when the filler is in a plastic state. As will be evident, other means for detachable engagement of the nose guard to the teeth protector, for example bayonet joint structures, may be utilized. If desired for special applications, the nose guard and teeth protector may be permanently connected.

The nose guard 20 also may take other forms than that shown; for example, the arcuate members 38 may be of a different configuration or omitted entirely, While additional upright portions 26 and convex sections 28 may be employed, or a perforated convex guard plate could be arranged between the upright portions 26. However, it will be noted that the structure described in detail is simple and inexpensive in construction, in addition to being effective in use and easily handled.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided, by this invention, a combined protecting device in which the various objects hereinabove set forth, together with many practical advantages, are successfully achieved. As various possible embodiments may be made of the mechanical features of the present invention, such as those mentioned, all without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter hereinbefore set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A protective device of the character described comprising a teeth protector and a nose guard secured thereto, said nose guard including means adapted to extend along the sides of and across the nose of a wearer, and said teeth protector including a generally U-shaped base member having a bottom wall and inner and outer side walls extending upwardly therefrom, said walls defining a U-shaped cavity adapted to receive a row of dentures, and said nose guard means comprising a frame member having a substantially horizontally disposed upper curved section and a plurality of vertically extending spaced guard portions depenclmgfromsaidcurved section and wherein means are provided for detachably securing the nose guard to the teeth protector.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein the detachable securing means comprises means arranged on the lower ends of the spaced guard portions and cooperating means in the bottom Wall of the teeth protector.

3. The structure defined in claim 2 wherein shock absorbing means are provided on the rearward side of the spaced guard portions, said latter means abutting against the face of the wearer.

4. A protective device of the character described comprising a teeth protector and a nose guard secured thereto, said nose guard including an integral frame member made of a stiff but deformable rod and a resilient sheath enclosing said rod, said frame member having a pair of spaced upright guard portions adapted to extend along the sides of the nose of a wearer, said portions being joined at their upper ends by a forwardly extending convex guard section and terminating in lower, rearwardly extending free ends, said teeth protector including a generally U-shaped base member having a bottom wall and inner and outer side walls extending upwardly therefrom, said walls defining a U-shaped cavity adapted to receive a row of dentures.

5. The structure defined in claim 4 wherein the bottom Wall of the teeth protector is provided with means cooperating with the free lower ends of the guard portions for detachably securing the nose guard to the teeth protector.

6. The structure defined in claim 4 wherein the spaced guard portions are substantially parallel and coextensive, and shock absorbing means being provided on the rearward side of said guard portions, said latter means abutting against the face of the wearer.

7. The structure defined in claim 6 wherein the shock absorbing means comprises a resilient arcuate member for each guard portion and substantially coextensive therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 460,301 Cumnock Sept. 29, 1891 790,237 Wilcox May 16, 1905 1,043,649 Wendell Nov. 5, 1912 2,105,607 McMillan Jan. 18, 1938 2,620,793 Gollubier Dec. 9, 1952 2,681,652 Laxton June 22, 1954 2,705,492 Chandler Apr. 5, 1955 

